


Omnes Una Manet Nox

by Cotidie_morimur



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: And he participates in the effort to reclaim Wall Maria, Badass Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Feral Levi, Hurt Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Hurt/Comfort, Levi gets dragged along behind a horse, Levi runs away, Liberal use of the word fuck, M/M, Older Eren Yeager, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, People are Dicks, Younger Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), it doesn't go well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:22:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28651947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cotidie_morimur/pseuds/Cotidie_morimur
Summary: Levi has lived peacefully (or a peacefully as you can considering there's an army of monsters waiting to eat him at every corner) outside the wall for several years after having run away from the Underground. This all changes when he saves a groups of scouts, meeting the man who would change everything, Captain Eren.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 10
Kudos: 76





	1. Prologue

Levi fucked up. Badly. Kenny was going to fucking murder him.

“Fuck.” Levi spits out the word. He can hear the drumming of footsteps behind him, getting closer and closer. He bolts around the corner into an alleyway, looking around frantically for any place to hide. Come on, there’s got to be one place he can… Then he spots it, a narrow opening between the building and the garbage bin. Luckily, Levi is small for his age, wiggling into the small space. He holds his breath as the thumping of footsteps and yelling surges towards him. 

He hears the footsteps thunder past the entrance, and he breathes a sigh of relief. Thank fuck for the gang’s inability to pay attention. Levi thumps his head against the stone wall behind him. Groaning, he goes to extricate himself from his hiding spot when he hears someone pacing at the entrance of the alley.

“Where the fuck could that little brat could have gone?” The goon at the entrance of the alley hisses out. Levi freezes against the wall, inching further into the dark recesses behind the dumpster. His breath is shallow and panicky. Levi scrunches his eyes closed and wills himself to suddenly develop invisibility. 

A loud bang rings out by Levi’s head and he barely contains a gasp, shoving his hand over his mouth. 

“Fuck” The voice is loud and angry. “That fucking hurt.” The goon must have kicked the dumpster. “I give up. The little shithead isn’t here.”

Great. The entire fucking gang is after him. Levi sighs, slumping fully against the wall. He cradles his head in his hands. What the fuck is he going to do? He can’t stay here, damn near the whole Underground is after him. Ugh. Levi grits his teeth. He crawls out of his hiding place, carefully looking around for any people. There’s no one around and he breathes a sigh of relief. Levi bites at his thumb painfully. He’d better get going, he needs to grab a few things before trying to find somewhere safe to rest for the night. Levi sneaks through the neighbourhood, ducking into doorways or alleyways whenever he sees another person. When he gets to his hideout, the place is crawling with people, they’re completely tearing the place apart. Levi couldn’t help but mourn the loss of his apartment. Despite how small and shitty it was, it was his. Fuck. He wouldn’t be able to grab any of his clothes or any money with all those people crawling around. He needed to get out and there was only one way to go: up.

Levi looks at the stairs leading above ground with trepidation. It was his only chance. He had to do it, it was now or never.

The shouting begins when he’s halfway up the stairs. He can’t stop. Not now. His feet are pounding on the brittle wooden boards as he bolts ever upwards. His breath is coming out in heavy pants. He’s almost there. 2 flights of stairs, then 1, then he’s shoving open the trapdoor leading to the outside would. Stumbling into the sunlight.  
He blinks, disoriented at the sudden change but then sets off running. The sun is hot on his back as he runs, twisting and turning through the maze of narrow streets. He can hear the commotion of the guards somewhere far behind him as he runs full tilt into a bustling marketplace. 

Distracted by the sudden explosion of colour and sound Levi wheels around, running headlong into one of the vendors stall. The merchant yells, Levi can see it but all that he hears is a muted roar in his head.

“I’m sorry… I don’t” The man is advancing on him as Levi backs away, raising his hands placatingly. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Shit, he really can’t afford to get caught out in the open. The commotion of the guards is drawing closer and Levi turns and runs. The merchant is yelling angrily after him and he rushes through the market, careening into other marketgoers.

“Hey! Hey kid!” The voice is loud. Levi can hear the whine of unspooling wire and then large man lands in front of him. Levi’s eyes go wide, looking desperately for another means of escape. Then, there are hands grabbing his wrists. He screeches, fighting wildly against the grip. “Whoa kid! Calm down.” The man pulls him close, hoisting him over his shoulder.

“Fuck!” Levi screams as he feels a sudden burst of motion as a jet of gas expels the wire and they go shooting through the air. Levi can’t breathe. The man runs along the rooftops, leaping gracefully from one house to the next. There’s an enormous wall coming up rapidly towards them and the man scales it with ease, the whizzing of wire startling Levi out of his stupor.

“Where are we?” Levi’s voice was less stable than he wanted it to be, trembling lightly.

“You were causing a ruckus in the market kid; I had no choice but to take you in.” His voice was gruff. Levi feels his body tensing. Shit. 

The man lands outside of a squat building built into the giant wall. He walks casually through the door. He grabs a set of keys off the wall, walking over to a small, clean cell set into the far back corner of the building. The man tosses him in the cell, locking the door behind him as he stumbles and falls.

“What’s your name kid?” 

Levi remains stubbornly quiet.

“Suit yourself.” The man goes to sit at the table set up in the middle of the room, fiddling idly with a pack of cards. 

A few hours pass before the man moves again. Levi watches him like a hawk the entire time, ready for any potential opportunity to escape. The man stubbornly does nothing, not even looking over at Levi. Levi shuffles back until he’s in the corner of his cell. As the sun sets Levi curls up, quickly falling into a fitful sleep.

Days pass. Levi sleeps. The guards, for that is what they were, didn’t bother him other than to place food on the floor of his cell. Now that he has time to think, he notices the thick layer of grime on his body in the bright sun. Shame curls in his stomach at how unclean he is compared to the pristine guard’s uniforms. 

“You’re in luck kid.” The man who plucked him from the marketplace is back. “You’re being sent to the front. They need more men.”

“What front.” Levi hadn’t spoken in many days and his voice was rough.

“They’re trying to reclaim wall Maria.” The man cocks his head. “You didn’t know that? What, have you been living under a rock?”

It’s probably best if he doesn’t answer that. 

The man unlocks his cell and grabs Levi by the scruff of his shirt. “Come on brat. Let’s go.” Levi glares at him, almost giving in to the urge to fight back but he figures that it’ll be much easier to escape from wherever it is he’s going. Plus, he’s curious about the ‘front’ this man is talking about. 

He gets dropped into a crowd of gaunt, dead-eyed people. They are clearly peasants, little more than cannon fodder. Levi’s attention is drawn by a loud man at the front of the crowd, ordering people around. The yelling man catches him staring, going red in the face and stalking over to him. 

“You. What are you looking at brat.” The man jabs a thick finger into Levi’s chest. Levi looks up at him coolly, not saying anything. “Answer me.” The man yells in his face droplets of spit landing across Levi’s face. He has to resist the urge to wipe the spit away. “Not going to answer me brat?” The man’s face twists into a savage grin. “I’ll show you what happens when you mess with me brat.” He snaps his fingers at one of his nervous underlings. “You. Bring me the handcuffs.”

The man snaps the heavy manacles over Levi’s bony wrists then turns, yanking on the chain to drag Levi behind him. The man loops the chain of the manacles around his saddle, forcing Levi to stand alongside his horse. The bay is stomping and snorting at the crowds of people and Levi shies away as much as he can, pulling painfully on his arms. The man laughs cruelly at his fear. 

The man signals to the other guards, all clad in the same strange harness as the guard who picked him up from the marketplace, and they start to move. Levi is dragged along behind the horse until he can get his feet under him, running to keep up with the horse’s long strides. Eventually he sees the enormous wall loom ahead of him and he swallows nervously. He has a bad feeling about this. 

The titans come out of nowhere, and Levi can only watch helplessly as the screaming, terrified peasants are crushed, spraying blood across the field. Terrified, Levi yanks at the manacles still attached to the man’s saddle. In his desperation, he yanks one of his hands out of the manacle scraping his hand raw. Newly free, he scrambles away from the horse, falling to the ground. Horrified, he stares up at the grinning face of the titan. Its mouth opens wide, a sickening smell of death and decay rolling over Levi’s body. Levi is frozen in terror as it gets closer, entire body shaking. 

A sob rips out of Levi’s body, tears clouding his eyes. As the titan approaches, hand reaching for Levi, one of the soldiers swings by, cutting off the titans hand with a sweep of his blades. This distracts the titan long enough for Levi to regain some sense and start running in the opposite direction. By now, the peasants around him have been decimated, body parts and blood scattered across the ground. Looking around he can see titans converging on him. 

What is he going to do? He sees the fallen body of one of the soldiers nearby, it’s harness still mostly intact. Could he? He drops to the knees by the body, fumbling with the buckles. Panic makes his hands clumsy. He manages to undo the harness and strip it off the body. The harness is ill-fitting on his body, loose and awkward. 

The titans are closing in and Levi fumbles with the controls. He manages to shoot one of the wires, anchoring it to a nearby spindly tree. Clicking the other trigger, he flies wildly through the air towards the tree.

“Shit” Levi screams as the titans turn to follow him. He manages to unhook his first wire and shoot the other somewhere in the direction of another tree. He swings awkwardly deeper into the forest the crashing of the titans close behind him. Fuck, he’s been chased by things hell bent on killing him far too many times in the past few days.

The forest gets dark as the sun goes down and Levi abruptly realizes that he can’t hear the crashing of the titans behind him. The forest is eerily quiet, not even the normal sounds of animals daring to break the silence. Levi’s heavy panting and the loud beating of his heart are the only things he can hear. There’s a large tree ahead of him, so tall he can’t see the topmost boughs. Levi scales the branches going as high as he can stand before he stops. There, in the crook of one of the branches, he sees a hollow in the bark of the tree. It’s large enough that he can comfortably stand and lay down. His breath becomes uneasy as he slides down the inside edge of the hollow, curling into a tight ball. He’d only heard passing references to the titans in the Underground, but the reality was so much worse. He didn’t know anything about their abilities or their weaknesses. Fuck. He’d tried to get as high up as he could, hoping to avoid even the tallest of the titans. 

He can only pray that it’s enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Levi flipped through the trees, silent, calm. Below him, he sees a small titan and he dives sweeping his blades across the nape of his neck killing it instantly. It falls to the ground with a thud and Levi flips up to a high branch. He crouches, observing the forest around him. It had been years since he had been this far away from his home, and he vaguely remembered this section of the forest from his initial, haphazard, clumsy flight through the trees. He had learned since then, how to survive in the forest, to stalk prey silently, to glide through the air using the harness he stole from the nameless soldier. It had been a shock, the first time he ran out of the gas that power the mechanism, but he powered through, finding extra canisters of gas on fallen soldiers from past expeditions. 

His gunmetal grey eyes scanned the forest, looking for any hint of movement that might belie a titan lying in wait. He felt a melancholy that he hadn’t felt in years and it urged him on, desperate to remember and mourn the peasants that had died. Moving through the forests, he scans for titans before making his way onto the plains, walking amid the scattered bones and half-trampled skeletons. Lost in his mourning, it takes him a long time to recognize the thundering of something coming towards him. He looks up to see a cloud of dust coming towards him. Furrowing his brows, he tries to make out any details of the cloud as it comes closer. 

It's time to leave. Levi turns, leaping up into the trees on the edge of the forest. Turning, he sees the cloud slow, then halt at the site of the bloodbath. He can make out people? Soldiers maybe. Clad in green cloaks and similar gear to what he was wearing. They remain on their horses, milling about the area. Levi feels a prickle on his skin, and he looks closer. One of the men mounted on horseback is staring at him. Panicked, he flees deeper into the forest. Surely, they didn’t actually notice him. He was far away, well camouflaged. Putting the man out of his mind, he makes his way back to his home. Curling up in the hollow he can’t help but think about those people again, eventually falling into a fitful sleep.

He is woken by the sound of yelling below him. Peeking his head out of the hollow, he can see the same people in cloaks being absolutely destroyed by a group of titans. 

With a sigh, Levi leaps out of the hollow, gaining speed as he freefalls through the air. Deploying his anchors at the last possible moment he swings around the titans, ignoring the shouts of surprise from the cloaked people. With a neat spin he slices into the neck of the first titan, then dodges the grab of the second titan. He releases the anchors and drops to the forest floor, running between the legs of the second titan. He deploys the anchors, hooking them into a branch far above him. He runs up the back of the titan using the wires to pull himself up quickly and efficiently. As he reaches the nape, he dodges across the beast’s shoulder and brings his swords efficiently across the nape of its neck. He releases the anchors and he drives his swords deep into the titan’s flesh, holding on as the titan topples to the ground.   
He looks up at the cloaked people as they drop cautiously to the forest floor approaching him warily. 

“Who are you?” Someone with long blonde hair squints at Levi. Levi glares back, bristling under his observant gaze.

“None of your business.” Levi growls out, voice rough with disuse.

“That was gorgeous.” Someone else speaks up and Levi pivots, dropping into a fighting stance. It was the man from before, the one who was staring at him. This close Levi can see that his eyes are a lovely shade of green. “Whoa, easy.” His hands come up placatingly. “I’m Eren, one of the Captains of the Survey Corps.” He offers his hand for a handshake. Levi glares down at Eren’s hand then looks him in the eye.

“What are you doing out here?”

“I—” There’s a rustling in the bush and Levi focuses on the noise. “It’s not safe to talk here. You need to leave.”

“But—”

“Go.” He hisses. “Now.” Then he’s off the ground, whizzing into the canopy of the trees. The people scatter as another titan bursts into the clearing. 

Levi watches from above as they clumsily take out the titan. Once they’ve defeated the titan they look around for him before they take off, swinging through the forest. Against his better judgement Levi follows them, not willing to let more people die at the hands of titans. Before he knows it, they’ve reached their horses. Levi breathes a sigh of relief. Soon they’ll be gone and Levi can relax. He takes a moment to observe the man, Eren. He’s checking on his soldiers, back turned towards the forest. 

There’s a rustle as a titan emerges from the underbrush. Eren whirls around to face the oncoming titan, drawing his swords futilely. Before he can think, Levi is swooping down, shoving Eren out of the way of the titan’s massive hand. He feels one of his wires snag on something, then he’s being unceremoniously yanked backwards. Air rushes past his ears for a moment then he smashes into a tree with a sickening crunch. Pain radiates outward from his leg and back as darkness creeps over his vision. Fuck, Levi thinks as he passes out. 

He’s sitting on something moving with someone’s arms around his waist when he wakes up. Immediately, he tries to push the arms around him, upsetting his balance on what he is quickly realizing is a horse. 

“Whoa. Stop wiggling.” The arms tighten around him. Levi recognizes the voice to be Eren’s.

“What am I doing here?” Levi tries to turn around to look at Eren, jarring his leg. Levi grits his teeth against the pain, his face carefully neutral.

Eren sucks his teeth. “We couldn’t leave you out there, not after you saved my life.” Eren shrugs. “Plus, you’re not able to use the ODM gear at the moment. You’d be a sitting duck.”

“What are you talking about.” Levi tries his best to glare at Eren behind him.

“Your leg is broken.”

“You don’t know that.” Levi looks resolutely forward.

“Sure.” Levi can hear Eren’s amusement. “Why don’t we stop and if you can prove to us that your leg isn’t broken, then you’re free to go.” 

“Great. Sounds good.” Levi’s voice was clipped.

“That was a joke.” Eren sighs in frustration. “Look. You would have died if we’d left you there, at least this way you get to sleep in an actual bed for a few months while you heal.” Eren pauses for a second. “How long were you out there anyways?”

Levi crosses his arms, staying silent.

“Suit yourself.” The horse thunders through the prairies the wall growing steadily bigger in front of them. “Hmm.” Eren breaks the silence. “Since you haven’t told us your name, should we come up with one for you?” 

“You didn’t ask.” Levi mutters under his breath.

“Petra what do you think?” He yells to one of the nearby riders. “Does munchkin work? Or is pipsqueak better?”

“Up to you sir.” Petra says, amused.

Short jokes. How original. You’d think that Levi’d be more excited to see other humans given he’s been alone for several years, but 15 minutes in and these people just seem to be awakening his latent homicidal tendencies.

“Levi.” Levi says quietly.

“What’s that pipsqueak?”

“My name.” Levi grumbles. “It’s Levi.”

Eren laughs. “Nice to meet you Levi.” 

Levi grumbles something that Eren can’t quite make out but assumes is uncharitable.

“These are the members of my squad. Petra” He points to the women from before with the short blonde hair. “Eld” He points to the man next to them who is observing Levi, eyes assessing. “Gunther” Eren points slightly behind them to a man with close cropped brown hair. “And Oluo” Eren points to the last man riding behind them. Levi stubbornly looks forward. 

Levi is saved from any more small talk by them arriving at the wall. Levi gulps and reflexively leans back, colliding with Eren. He can’t help but shiver remembering the last time he came through these gates. He rubs at his wrists nervously; it had taken him months to finally get the handcuffs off him.

Eren observes the man sitting in front of him. Something was clearly making him nervous, as much as he tried to hide it. 

“You good?” Eren murmurs quietly, for Levi’s sake. Levi doesn’t say anything, which yeah, that checks, but he does seem to make a conscious decision to relax, releasing some of the tension from his shoulders. 

A horn sounds from atop the wall, a signal to those down below to open the gate. Eren moves behind him to wave at the guards, sending a jolt of pain through Levi’s leg. Levi stifles a small sound of pain. 

“Sorry,” Eren gently rubs along his shoulder. “We’re almost there.”

They’re through the gate now and Eren points to a castle in the distance. 

“That’s our base of operations.” Eren starts explaining the history of the estate. “Castle Utgard –“

“I don’t care.”

“That no way to talk to the Captain” One of the men, Oluo Levi thinks, speaks up. 

“He’s not my Captain, now is he?” Levi snipes back.

Oluo begins to speak but Eren cuts him off. “That’s enough, both of you.” His voice brooks no argument, ice cold. Levi’s entire body stiffens, freezing in his seat. The silence as they ride the remaining distance to the castle is frigid.


End file.
